ISTANBUL – The toll from flooding in and around Istanbul last week rose to eight on Oct 19, as rescuers found more bodies after Turkey’s largest city was battered by the heaviest rainfall in more than 80 years, officials said.
Six died in Istanbul, while the bodies of two more people from a neighbouring province were washed up on the south-eastern outskirts of the megacity, Istanbul governor Davut Gul told reporters.
The Oct 14 historic rainfall – which officials said was the heaviest since records began in 1942 – caused chaos and flash flooding, with footage showing cars and people being dragged away by the fast-flowing waters.
By Oct 15, Gul said three people had died and another five were missing as huge efforts were under way to drain the floodwaters and clear up the damage and destruction caused by the torrential rainfall.
One was a 14-year-old boy who was electrocuted when he stepped in a puddle. A fourth body was found on Oct 16 and a fifth on Oct 18 in the Golden Horn estuary, state media Anadolu said. Both were men.
On Oct 19, Gul’s office said the body of another man was found near Ayvansaray ferry pier on the Golden Horn who had been reported missing.
“In Istanbul, a total of six people have died, and one person is missing,” Gul told reporters, saying another two people had died outside of Istanbul in the neighbouring province of Kocaeli.
“Two people who died in Kocaeli and were swept away as far as Pendik were found dead by our search and rescue teams. Therefore, a total of eight bodies have been found,” he said, adding that search efforts were continuing for one more missing person.
So far, the authorities have received nearly 20,000 reports about property damage as a result of the torrential rainfall and the resulting floods, Gul said.
“We experienced a disaster that generated around 19,300 reports, each with different types of problems. At this point, it has been determined that around 2,000 homes and about 900 businesses... have suffered serious damage,” he said.
On Oct 16, the authorities paid out 10,000 Turkish lira (S$258) to 5,200 affected residents and will pay out the same amount to another 2,500 people on Oct 19, he said. AFP